In our next episode of Edible Futures, editor of Difford’s Guide Australia, Jane Ryan, talks to us about the importance of a good bartender, the joy of making cocktails and shares her rich experiences and insights into a world of utilising food waste, foraging for cocktail ingredients and the place bottled cocktails hold in an ever-evolving industry.

In partnership with the Melbourne Cocktail Festival

Darren Leaney, Group Bar Manager of Sunda, Aru and Parcs restaurants in Melbourne shares his love of bartending and hospitality.He discusses ways to utilise food waste – bartenders are good at it – what cocktails make him happy and gets excited about people getting out and about again in Melbourne.

Stephen Walter, grain and pulse farmer at Burrum Biodynamics, shares how he and his family converted their 3000 acre property – that he was born on – from conventional to biodynamic farming.

They grow Wheat, Barley, Oats, Spelt, Rye, Lentils, Field peas and Fava beans and supply some of the best bakeries in Melbourne.

We talk to Gerald Diffey about his beautiful book, Beggars Belief and get a little emotional as we discuss the art and craft of great service.

How do we get more people into the beautiful hospitality industry?

Mr Diffey has some great ideas.

Melbourne-based chef Tom Sarafian, founded his brand ‘Sarafian Melbourne’ in mid-2021. His hand-made Hummus and Toum sells out regularly across the city. Here, he shares the story of his career, the adventures he’s taken and why hand-picking chickpeas for every batch of hummus may take more time but helps him sleep at night…

Former marine scientist and now, mushroom farmer, Yarra Valley-based John Ford shares his knowledge and love of all things fungi.

He cultivates little-known and very delicious varieties of mushrooms and sells to some leading chefs across Australia.

Wondering about what a Lion’s Mane mushroom is and how to cook it? John shares that and way more about how he sees an edible future.

We talk with Emma Coath, who guides Rocket Seeder, an accelerator for early stage startups in the Food and Agriculture sector in Australia.

She is passionate about helping innovators and founders take their food and agriculture businesses to the next level by providing them with the tools, guidance and support they need to scale up and help create an Edible Future…

Richard Seymour, GM of Mount Zero Olives in the Grampians in western Victoria, shares the story of the family business that has grown significantly since they bought the olive grove in 1994.

Always working towards a sustainable and ethical future in produce and production, Richard discusses how Mount Zero Olives do what they do and wish to do for generations to come.